At each Annual Meeting, CHT honors several people or institutions who inspire us. At this year’s virtual gathering on January 27th, we presented the following awards:
- Hilton Wick “Give Until It Feels Good” Award went to New England Federal Credit Union (NEFCU) for their transformative gift of $3 million over three years to CHT. This gift will help address the historic inequities for Black, Indigenous, and people of color households in accessing homeownership. We are so thankful to NEFCU for this incredible support!
- The Carole Pack Volunteer Award went to the members of the pilot CHT Renter Feedback Committee, which earlier in the evening, attendees voted to make permanent as the Rental Resident Advisory Committee. This dedicated group of CHT renters volunteered their time during the past year to pilot this committee advocating on behalf of CHT residents.
- Former CEO Brenda Torpy presented the first ever Brenda Torpy Founders Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Advancement of Perpetual Affordability to Tony Pickett, CEO of Grounded Solutions Network. Tony’s work has pushed the community land trust movement to make an even greater social justice impact. He served as a long time thought leader in the promotion of permanently affordable homes using the community land trust model nationwide.
The meeting also served as a chance to celebrate significant staff anniversaries. This year CHT celebrated: Becca Faour, Julie Fisher, Rick Farr, Bill Groseclose, William Welcome, Peter Fisher, Lynn Davis, Skip Trahan, and Brenda Torpy. All together this group has 145 years of combined service to our community through CHT!
CEO Michael Monte also recognized a group he called “his heroes,” Champlain Housing Trust’s dedicated staff, with a Special Community Award for not only persevering through the challenges presented by the last year, but going above and beyond time and time again. The award was accepted on behalf of all CHT staff by Raj Shah who has displayed incredible dedication through his years of service going above and beyond at Harbor Place in Shelburne.